My sister loves peonies and wanted to knit my Niebling adaptation, Peony – Pfingstrose Shawl, but its generous size is too big for her petite stature. She requested a modification that showcases “just the peonies” and Simply Peony was born!

Simply Peony – Pfingstrose (abridged) Shawl is a deep-crescent shaped shawl based on the Herbert Niebling’s pattern of the same name Pfingstrose, Peony in English. Simply Peony is worked from the top down with increases throughout the body. The original Niebling pattern, in half, is a half circle. I added patterns to the two edges for a softer deep-crescent shape. In order to create this shorter version, I omitted 40+ rows from the original Niebling pattern, eliminated some of the leaves, and modified the remaining leaf shapes. The result really showcases the peonies, thus its name, Simply Peony.

Skill Level
Medium to advanced. Charts only. It’s not a difficult pattern as far as the type of stitches is concerned for there aren’t any new or unusual stitches. It is, however, a VERY complicated pattern when it comes to following the sequence of the charts, especially towards the end of the shawl. This pattern is not for anyone new to chart or lace knitting, or who has trouble following complicated instructions/directions.

Yarns
Fingering weight are recommended. Heavy lace may also be used but will not showcase the stitch patterns as well. You may need to go down a needle size making it an even smaller shawl.

Yardage – Test knit usage ranged from 600y to 700y / 550m to 640m. See last picture for details.

To best showcase the various stitch patterns of Simply Peony, self-striping or variegated yarn with vast tonal differences is NOT recommended.

Gauge
Gauge isn’t important but will determine the final size of the shawl. See last picture for more info.

Needles
Sample shawl is knitted on US4 / 3.5mm needles. Go up or down needle size depending on the weight of your yarn and the tension of your knitting. Please note that this will affect yardage required.

Tools
Circular needles in size US4 / 3.5mm depending on your tension, stitch markers, blunt tapestry needle, crochet hook or other tool if you are adding beads, T-pins, and blocking wire(s) and mat (optional).

Beads
Size 6 or 8 rounds for heavy lace weight, size 6 rounds or size 5 triangles for fingering weight. Bead all or just some of these charts.

Visit enVision to see Hayley’s work with glass and fiber.

Get the free knitCompanion app to use your kCDesign (learn more).